Heroic efforts save little girl’s life

There’s nothing more terrifying than feeling adrift and out of control – now imagine if you are a six-year-old girl in the ocean!

When a little girl recently was swept out to sea on a raft, her father frantically called for a lifeguard – but there was none to be found.

Instead, the four Butler brothers jumped to the occasion, running to the ocean and swimming toward the little girl as fast as they could.

The successful rescue, which took an hour, inspired everyone around them

“I knew we were getting deep, but I didn’t care,” Declan Butler, who, at age 18, is the youngest brother along with his twin Eoghan, said. “I just didn’t want to give up on her.”

At one point, the little girl appeared to fall off the raft, and the brothers were terrified, but then they saw her rise about above the water again. From that point, the brothers continued to swim for another half-hour before getting close enough to call out to the girl to keep her calm.

“It was intense. It was emotional,” said Alex Thomson, brother-in-law to the Butlers. “If anything, it was extremely rewarding once we got to her.”

In the time it took them to reach her, the young girl’s father attempted his own rescue, but struggled to swim and was also in need of rescuing. Once the little girl was safe on the beach, twins Declan and Eoghan swam out to assist her father too.

“Seeing her jump around, kiss her mom, that was actually amazing,” Declan said.

Two days after they saved the 6-year-old, the brothers were reflecting on the weird symbolism of it all. They were currently traveling to celebrate their recently departed grandfather, whose brother drowned on that same day, decades before their incredible rescue.

“It’s kind of like this godly, guardian angel kind of feeling,” oldest brother Walter said, “that the same day he drowned 64 years ago is the day we actually saved the life of a 6-year-old girl.”

By going above and beyond to save a young girl, they honoured both their grandfather and their grand-uncle.